Summer Blockbusters

The 5 Rules Of Summer Blockbusters

The official first day of summer may still be a few weeks away, but as far as your local movie theater is concerned, the season’s already in full swing. Aliens have sunk our battleships, superheroes have saved the world (or at least New York City) and Will Smith has turned back the clock. Because ever since Jaws first proved that the general public was willing to spend the summer enjoying the great indoors, summer blockbusters have become as much of an annual tradition as barbecues, fireworks and beach trips. These days, though, Hollywood has summer movie season down to an exact science: big names, big budgets and even bigger explosions equals big profits. And while the formula varies slightly from movie to movie, we’ve come up with five tried-and-true rules of summer blockbusters, because it takes more than just choosing a board game, theme park ride or kid's toy to create a successful summer hit. Admittedly, though, not a whole lot more.

5. Bigger Is Always Better

This mantra has been driving summer blockbuster season since its inception, and the MO applies to everything from budgets to casting to shoot-outs, leading to the cinematic equivalent of an arms race. Because, sure, one A-list superhero may be well and good for The Amazing Spider-Man, but a whole star-studded team of Avengers? Even better. And why settle for two dimensions when you can have three? After all, to stand out in the crowded summer marketplace, it’s go big or go home. Which is why blockbuster sequels like The Expendables 2 weren’t content to just stand pat; the already jam-packed ’80s action hero Royal Rumble signed up even more big names for round two, including heavyweights like Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Others, like Piranha 3DD, take the maxim more literally. Either way, though, nobody’s complaining.

4. Don't Be Afraid To Rewrite History

Call it a remake, a reboot or a reimagining — if a story’s worth telling once, it’s worth telling two, three or even four times. So, whether it's an old classic getting a CGI facelift like in Total Recall, or Sony hitting the reset button on the Spider-Man franchise a mere five years after Tobey Maguire hung up his mask, as far as summer blockbusters are concerned, the past is far from sacred. That doesn’t just apply to past blockbusters either; historical events and figures are fair game as well. Just like last summer, in 2012, the Apollo program once again makes a convenient cover for alien hijinks in MIB III. And Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Huntergoes even further back, re-envisioning our 16th president as an ass-kicking action hero. Who said presidential biopics had to be boring?

3. (Don't) Clean Up Your Act

The R-rated comedy has become as much of a summer movie staple as a big-budget action movie, with The Dictator and Ted headlining this year’s crop and pushing the R rating to its limits. And while so many summer blockbusters aim to be family-friendly in search of big returns, when it comes to summer comedies, the more offensive the better — even if yours stars a sentient talking children’s toy. The Transformers robots may be insulting to our intelligence; Ted is just plain insulting.